Linux Mint Forums

Forum rules
There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it. Please stick to easy to-the-point questions that you feel people can answer fast. For long and complicated questions prefer the other forums within the support section.Before you post please read how to get help

I'm getting a new PC in March. I've been thinking about putting MINT on it. I've been using Ubuntu for a few years. I have a few miscellaneous questions.

1. Id like to install MINT natively, learn how to use VM software and then install Windows 8 in the VM. The custom computer shop told me they would sell me a computer and give me the Windows disk without installing it. It has been about 10 years since I installed windows. Should the installation disk have everything I need and will the install be unproblmatic as long as I follow the prompts? Will I be able to run MINT from a bootable CD and install it to the hard drive, without the hard drive having an operating system on it?

2. I've been thinking of trying the KDE version of MINT. I've had trouble with the KDE being very buggy and the project slow to fix bugs. That was YEARS ago. Is this still true?

3. During the last several years upgrades of Ubuntu have not been unproblematic. Usually I would have at least one problem to fix, even waiting a month after a fresh release. Granted, that could have been because of my old hardware. Have people been having the same experience with MINT upgrades?

4. How often does MINT update/ugrade...........about as often as Ubuntu?

5. How far apart are LTS releases.

6. 98% of my home PC use is browsing the web and watching videos. Would I notice any difference between MINT 13 and MINT 14?

7. If I choose to go with using LTS editions, will I miss out on anything noticeable, from an enduser's perspective?

8. Does MINT come with Oracle's Java installed or the open source version Ubuntu comes with?

9. Does MINT use a "software center" ( if so, what is it called ? ) or a package manager like semantic?

10. Does MINT have automated updates ( you get a pop up asking you to update ) ?

7- lts (specially this one supported for 5 years) are supported for a very long period of time; the only thing we can say is that for now you won't miss anything, the most relevant improvements (from an enduser point of view were backported from mint14 to mint13, see here >> http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2225

8- same as ubuntu

9- mint has its own software manager and also synaptic.

10- mintupdate does neither: it displays a different icon in the panel when updates are available and it's up to the user to start the process.

Do you mean that per installation/upgrade, mintupdate will take care of updating software for that version, as long as your press "ok" when it prompts you. However when it comes time to upgrade to a new version of MINT, you are on your own, as downloading MINT and overwriting your hard drive as if you were installing a new distro?